»
Science Fiction Writing

Some writers like to make fairly detailed outlines of their stories, so that they know almost exactly what is going to happen, scene by scene. This makes some sense for longer works such as novels, where the plot can get quite complicated. We will discuss outlining for novels in chapter fifteen. But for the short story, outlines can sometimes be a hindrance rather than a help. If the story is to flow out of the conflict between the two major characters (or the protagonist's conflict with the...

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face You must do the thing which you think you cannot do. Mrs. Roosevelt was not giving advice to writers when she wrote those words, but better advice would be hard to find. As a writer, you must do the thing which you think you cannot do push yourself farther, stretch your writerly muscles, reach for impossible dreams. Also, you must push your characters to do what they think they cannot...

While I crumpled the paper note that someone had slipped into my jacket pocket, Jack Armstrong drummed his fingers on the immaculately gleaming expanse of the pseudomahogany conference table. Well, he said testily, ladies and gentlemen, don't one of you have a possibility An inkling An idea No one spoke. I left the wadded note in my pocket and placed both my hands conspicuously on the table top. Armstrong drummed away in abysmal silence. I guess once he had actually looked like The All-American...

All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that a that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you the goo and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was. If you can get so that you can give that to people, then you are a writer. Well, almost. As far back as I can remember I was writing stories or telling them to friends and family When I was...

A strong story has many tiers of conflict. First is the inner struggle of the protagonist, emotion vs. emotion. Then this interior struggle is made exterior by focusing on an antagonist who attacks the protagonist precisely at her weakest point. The antagonist amplifies the protagonist's inner struggle, brings it out of her mind and into the outside world. For example, think of the many layers of conflict in the tale of Robin Hood. Interestingly, the Robin Hood stories were originally spoken,...

All right, then, how does a writer make an effective, fascinating background for a short story without going into excruciating detail Here are a few simple guidelines. 1. Make every background detail work. That is, everything about the background should be important to the story. In a short story you do not have the room, and the reader does not have the time, to rhapsodize over multicolored sunsets on a planet that has six suns. Not unless those gorgeous colors will affect the outcome of the...

How do you do this There are two major things to keep in mind. First, remember that every story is essentially the description of a character struggling to solve a problem. Pick your central character with care. The protagonist must be interesting enough, and have a grievous-enough problem, to make the reader care about her. Often the protagonist is called the viewpoint character, because the story is told from that character's point of view. It is the protagonist's story that you are telling,...

Every plot needs a few surprising twists and turns, of course. But even here it is best to let the characters themselves surprise you, the writer. If you have developed a set of interesting characters, people who are alive in your mind, you will find that they start to do surprising things as you write their story. They will take over their own destinies and stubbornly resist your efforts to bend them to a preconceived plot. The antagonist that you wanted to put in jail will squeeze out of your...

Every short story should reach this kind of crisis-point. This is where you, the writer, put your protagonist and the reader on the needle-sharp horns of an impossibly painful dilemma. Up to this point, you have carefully convinced the reader that your protagonist is a fine and worthwhile fellow, no matter what his shortcomings and problems may be. If you have done your work well, the reader will be imagining himself as the protagonist. I wanted you to believe that you were Chet Kinsman,...

Let us briefly examine this story, then, in the light of the checklist from chapter six. 1. Make every background detail work. There is not a detail in this story that does not help advance the mood or the character development or the plot. For example, we see at first that Dorn's clothing is tattered, although his soldier's boots are highly polished. Later we learn that his clothing is his soldier's uniform, from which he has torn all the insignia and pockets a physical representation of...

Now, let us go over the points made in chapter three's checklist, in light of what I have said about Fifteen Miles. 1. In a good story the reader forgets where he is and lives in the story the reader wants to be the protagonist. Fifteen Miles is a heavily masculine story. The story has been widely anthologized, which means that many editors have liked it, and many readers have seen it. I suspect that most of those readers are male. That is one of the problems a writer faces Every story choice...

The essence of creating a strong, exciting plot lies in building a powerful time bomb and making certain that the reader can hear its ticking from the very first page even the first paragraph of the story. The three aspects of fiction writing that we have already discussed character, background and conflict must be brought into focus by the plot. The protagonist must have a problem that she must solve. To solve this problem the protagonist will come into conflict with other characters and or...

The simplest form of conflict is the most obvious action-packed fighting between two characters. This is the heart of the stereotypical western story the good guy in the white hat shoots it out with the bad guy in the black hat. Or they fight it out with fists in the town saloon. This is called horse opera, a justifiably derisive term when such physical action is the only kind of conflict in the story. Science fiction stories have been written along the same lines, and such stories are called...

The plan of this book is straightforward. I assume that you want to write publishable fiction, either short stories or novels. I will speak directly to you, just as if we were sitting together in my home discussing craftsmanship face to face. First, we will talk about science fiction, its special requirements, its special satisfactions. The science fiction field is demanding, but it is the best place for new writers to begin their careers. It is vital, exciting, and offers a close and immediate...

The three reasons this book concentrates on science fiction story-writing are 1. In today's commercial fiction market, SF is one of the few areas open to new writers, whether they are writing short stories or novels. Mysteries, gothics, romances, and other categories of commercial fiction are much more limited and specialized, especially for the short-story writer, but SF is as wide open as the infinite heavens. SF magazines actively seek new writers, and SF books consistently account for...

One of the biggest problems facing the writer of a science fiction short story is the need to create a background that is convincing without being overpowering. The writer of a contemporary story, or a historical or western or detective story, can take it for granted that the reader is familiar with most of the background details. After all, a table is a table. Modern American readers know what a stagecoach looks like they can easily visualize the glittering chandeliers of Louis XIV's palace at...

If you look up the word in a dictionary, you will find several definitions. The one that pertains to writers is clash or divergence of opinions, interests. . . a mental or moral struggle occasioned by incompatible desires, aims, etc. A mental or moral struggle caused by incompatible desires and aims. That is the kind of conflict that makes stories vitally alive. Not merely the mindless, automatic violence of Good Guys vs. Bad Guys, but the clash of desires and aims that cannot coexist. Like the...

What is either a picture or a novel that is not character Henry James That is, every fiction story hinges on the writer's handling of the people in the story. In particular, it is the central character, or protagonist, who makes the difference between a good story and a bad one. In fact, you can define a story as the prose description of a character attempting to solve a problem nothing more. And nothing less. In science fiction, the character need not be a human being. Science fiction stories...

Listed on the following page are the seven major points I have made in this chapter. We will examine them again in chapter five to see how each point was followed in Fifteen Miles. 1. In a good story the reader forgets where he is and lives in the story the reader wants to be the protagonist. 2. The protagonist must be admirable, or at least likable, but he should have at least one glaring weakness that forms the underlying tension that drives the character's behavior. Capture those conflicting...

For me, as a writer, the best way to build a good plot is to begin with a strong, sympathetic protagonist and put him into action against a similarly strong antagonist. Strong, in this context, does not necessarily mean the jutting jaw, steely eyes and bulging muscles of the typical old-time pulp magazine hero. In a novelette called The Dueling Machine which I later expanded into a novel , my protagonist was a gangling, bumbling young man who could barely walk across a room without getting into...

Draw your chair up close to the edge of the precipice and I'll tell you a story. Gordon R. Dickson is not only a fine writer, but also one of the best story doctors I know. Writers take their problem stories to Gordy for advice. He was once asked, What makes a story tick His answer The time bomb that's set to explode on the last page. Every story is a race against time. Something is going to happen and, whether it is good or bad, the characters and events of the story are set up to get to the...